Introduction

Contemporary society is complex, governed and administered by a range of contradictory policies, practices and techniques. Nowhere are these contradictions more keenly felt than in cultural policy. This book demonstrates the importance of cultural policy as both an important part of the modern world and a distinctive, interdisciplinary, academic field. Cultural policy has often been a neglected area of study, falling between a range of academic disciplines. In political science it is seen as peripheral compared with the study of health, defence or education. Cultural studies, an area that cultural policy developed from, has traditionally questioned the extent and importance of engagement with policy. Sociology, particularly the sociology of culture, offers much to help understand cultural policy but has, as yet, not been integrated into cultural studies or political science approaches to the topic.